


through the lows and the highs I will stay by your side

by CreatePeaceFromChaos



Series: Timbitat's Quarantine Bingo [20]
Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Families of Choice, Family Fluff, Fluff, Gen, Introspection, Short & Sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-01
Updated: 2020-08-01
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:28:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,133
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25643566
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CreatePeaceFromChaos/pseuds/CreatePeaceFromChaos
Summary: Years after Pitch Black was chased off and Jack Frost joined their number as a Guardian of Childhood, Nicholas St North muses on what the little frost sprite has brought to their lives.What he’s brought to their family.
Relationships: E. Aster Bunnymund & Jack Frost, E. Aster Bunnymund & Jack Frost & Nicholas St. North & Sanderson Mansnoozie & Toothiana, Jack Frost & Guardians of Childhood, Jack Frost & Nicholas St. North, Jack Frost & Sanderson Mansnoozie, Jack Frost & Toothiana
Series: Timbitat's Quarantine Bingo [20]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1830388
Comments: 6
Kudos: 104





	through the lows and the highs I will stay by your side

**Author's Note:**

> For the square "Chosen Family" on my quarantine bingo sheet.
> 
> Title from "I Choose You" by Alessia Cara
> 
> (psst, hey CloudSpeck, I finally got it written!)

Things had changed, North mused, since Jack had joined their ranks. The little winter sprite was a reminder of what they fought for, a young spirit who was still very much a child despite his experiences and the hardships and loneliness he’d faced. Toothiana had even confirmed – only to North, this was true, but confirmed nonetheless – that she didn’t have _all_ of Jack’s baby teeth. He still had one – a single, solitary canine – which had refused to budge even as Jack had reached age thirteen, fourteen, fifteen… had still been in his mouth when he fell through the ice the day before he turned sixteen.

North knew what had happened to the boy – he’d been the one to comfort the sprite when he’d woken from a memory-dream of the incident, and Jack had quietly, haltingly, stuttered out the story into North’s beard as the Guardian of Wonder had held him close and safe.

North knew what Pitch had done to Jack, too – that had been another story mumbled out into his beard after a bad dream woke young Jack from a nap in one of the chairs North kept scattered about the Workshop.

It was not all bad, though. It was not always Jack waking – scared and stiff and ready to flee – and North comforting him. No, that was only a small portion of their interactions, and had grown few and far between as the months and years passed.

It was Jack teasing and taunting Bunny when the Pooka became too stressed, poking and prodding at him until he snapped and gave chase. It always resulted in Bunny managing to tackle Jack – who was usually laughing too hard at seeing a snow-dusted Pooka to dodge – out of the sky, smothering the boy in a great hug and laughing as he rubbed a large furry fist over the boy’s scalp. The tension would have eased from Bunny by the end of the chase, and Jack always looked so proud of himself when he finally wriggled free – flushed just faintly pink from exertion and incredibly ruffled – and tweaked one of Bunny’s ears before darting off with a laugh.

It was Jack focusing intently as Tooth guided him through the steps of the dances she had learned from the Sisters of Flight – dances that only Sandy had been able to do with her before, as they required a certain lightness of foot and the ability to take to the air in an instant. It always warmed North’s heart to see the two of them dancing together, twirling around each other and taking to the sky, laughter sounding out loud and bright in the air as the intricate steps and turns and darting lunges of Tooth’s dances were learned and mastered by her new student.

It was Jack keeping Sandy company through the longer nights, chatting with the Sandman as the former star sent out his sleepsand to bring the children of the world good dreams. And, sometimes, when Jack had been sleeping poorly from old memories rearing their heads, Sandy would dust the golden grains over Jack and then bring him to North, the two of them settling the young spirit into a bed and making sure he was comfortable before Sandy beamed and waved at North and then took off again.

It was Jack flitting about the Workshop, teasing the elves and dusting Joy-snowflakes over the stressed yeti, the little sprite almost _buzzing_ with energy and life as midwinter in the northern hemisphere came closer and closer. He was a little manic in the winter months, full of enthusiasm and a mischief that made his blue eyes sparkle. Jack still needed his rest, though, and often North would find him curled up in odd places – up on a beam by the ceiling, wedged into a corner of Phil’s office in the Workshop, tucked into North’s own office chair – completely dead to the world. North’s heart would always swell with love and happiness at seeing the newest Guardian so comfortable in his home, and would gladly scoop up the child and carry him to the bed that was solely for Jack.

Jack Frost was theirs, one of their ranks but also _their child_ , a spirit child to whom they had much to make up for but also a child who reminded them of why they did what they did. He was family, and North thought that they were all much better for his presence.

***

_Family is what you make of it._

Jack had heard that in passing at some point over the years, and (at the time) hadn’t really thought much of it. The phrase had stuck around, though, lingering in the back of his mind and reappearing at random times. Most of the time he pushed it away again, too bitter and lonely to ponder on what “family” might be other than something he didn’t have.

Then he’d been chosen by the Man in the Moon to join the Guardians of Childhood, and they’d fought Pitch, and there’d been some horrible cruel moments in that whole debacle but Jack had come out of it with _believers_ and _friends_ and maybe Bunny wasn’t all that bad after all.

It hit him hard one evening, as he curled up against Bunny’s side in an armchair while the big ol’ rabbit argued heatedly with North – Tooth and Sandy refereeing (or enabling, in Sandy’s case) – about the importance of their holidays. Bunny was warmth and safety and _life_ , and his arm around Jack was gentle even as he shook his other fist at North in a combination of frustration and threat.

He was just watching them, a little sleepy and definitely amused, and it hit him like a bolt of lightning from a clear blue sky. He twitched, almost jolted at the realisation, and Bunny’s arm tightened around him – reassuring, not constricting – without a moment’s pause in his argument with North.

This was his family. North was somewhere between grandfather and father and mentor, Tooth was like a doting big sister, Bunny was the gruff older brother who did care despite his loud proclamations not to, and Sandy was that strange uncle who drifted in and out of their lives but trailed kindness and laughter in his wake.

And Jack… Jack had a place in all that. He had a place among them, with them, and they’d become what he’d never thought he’d have ever again – even with the memories of his human family. But this…

This was what that saying meant. Family was what you made it, through choice rather than blood, through shared experiences and emotional bonds.

“You alright there, Snowflake?” Bunny asked softly, and Jack glanced up at concerned, soft green eyes. He smiled.

“Yeah, I’m good, Bun.”

And he was. He was with his family.

**Author's Note:**

> Short and sweet and cute! I struggled to start this one but one I started it was written in about an hour.
> 
> Come say hi on Tumblr - I'm createpeacefromchaos there, too


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